Engineers are dependent on standards to ensure that their designs are compliant to the current standards.The dilemma of engineers is when the current standard is not readily available or if they have access to standards at all.
Some companies have access to online standards archive which ensures that the standards they are using are the current publications. Not everyone however were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, thus making the design task of some engineers much more difficult. Likewise, due to legalities, keeping standards for personal use is not allowed unless the standard was issued particularly for your own use.
When Standards are not readily available, the delivery of the project will suffer if not obsolete as the basis of design was on a superseded standard.